Camry Hybrid Isn't Worth It

PanAsianBiz ^ | June 6, 2006 | Dr. Bill Belew

[G. Stolyarov II]

A Camry hybrid costs about $5,000 more than it's nonhybrid brother, or is it sister?

If a driver goes 15,000 miles a year with an efficiency of 39mpg s/he will save about $500/yr. Easy math. It will take 10 years to get your money back.

The good news is a Toyota will last 10 years and 150,000 miles. The bad news is Americans won't drive the same car for that long. But then neither will anybody else in any other country. The Japanese will change cars every 3-5 years.

This is one of the reasons why the hybrid market only makes up 1.2% of US vehicle sales.

So, does that mean hybrids aren't worth it?

Hardly...what it means is if more people bought them the price would go down.

It also means that money is spent in making cars rather than consuming gasoline... and there is a different kind of savings there.

The question - are there trade-offs worth it?

[VeniVidiVici]

She still remains very sick but is back at the nursing home.

I hope she is feeling better then!

[Postman]

2.2 gallons to again top off the tank after driving 136 miles, mostly highway, up and down hills, some stop and go traffic. I can't really explain it...it just works the way it is expected to.

[kstewskis]

The future is turbo diesels... not hybrids.

Do you know of a turbo diesel in a small or mid sized pick up truck? That would be ideal (for me anyway).

[VeniVidiVici]

They get their greatest mileage gains in the city where the engine is shutoff at stop and the battry store is used to power the electric engine from light to light, depending on the hybrid in use.

Highway mileage is also improved but by a much smaller amount.

[Wycowboy]

I'd love a hybrid pickup that has 110 VAC and 220VAC jacks for powering tools, etc. A few hundred thousand of those driving our streets would come in real handy in the event of a massive power outage - can you imagine how handy they'd have been in the Katrina aftermath?

Right! Think how many more casualties there could have been.

"Here, stand in this butt deep flood water and plug in this 220 volt cord for me"

[38special]

Just think, when everyone else are driving hybrids the price of gasoline will drop like a rock.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

I've got an electric mower too (actually, it's a cordless -- replacing a corded one I had for 15 years). It costs about 1/3 as much to run as a gas mower. We have hydro electric here -- but, even coal fired generating plants are much more efficient than mower engines (line losses included). You can't run a car on coal -- every drop of gas that an electric mower saves is available for someone's car. Plus: the electric is much quieter; starts instantly every time; doesn't require storing fuel on-site; never, ever needs any maintenance (except for sharpening the blade).

[Old Professer]

Any fool with two hands can carry four eggs, it takes a basket or a carton to carry a dozen.

[Old Professer]

How's your low-carb diet going?

You seem to be in fine fettle lately and you and your peripatetic carriage far outpace me and my old mare.

I once remarked to a critic of my pecuniary ways, that I would stop squeezing the last drop when the sun drew back its final rays.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

At $.25 over regular gas, I'll pass.

[truth_seeker]

Modern European turbo diesels get more than 60 MPG as a matter of course."

I have read that 40 to 70 percent of new vehicles sold in Europe now are diesels.

We do NOT get diesels in the US for BMW, Audi, VW, Mercedes, etc. But they make some good, high performance motors.

And Audi just won the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Turbo Diesel motor--very, very fast reliable race car.

Both diesel and turbocharge technologies yield high torque at low rpms. Stump pullers.

[El Gato]

My 1986 (original owner) Honda Civic hatchback is at 252,000 miles and still going strong!!

I traded my '99 Mazda 626 (4 cyl. Std.) at 350,000 miles. It was burning oil, but not terribly badly, a quart or two between changes. Clutch had been replaced twice, A/C system once. Transmission once, (broken shaft inside somewhere) Exhaust system, once. Half shafts once each. Still I got my money's worth out of it.

[Ruth A.]

The quiet would be a big factor for me. This world is just too loud.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"A cabbie in Canada drove over 200,000, and Toyota took his battery and gave him a new one to study, and found that the battery was "like-new".

Just about every new cab here is a Prius. Cabbies say they save a ton of money on gas, because of the stop & go traffic & because our gas costs more. Another way the cabbies say they save a significant amount is on brake wear and tear. The generator slows the car down at stops, and saves the brakes. They last 3 or 4 times longer.

[MaDeuce]

Diesel electric propulsion is great! I'd love to have it in my pickup truck.

The problem still for the enviro-nazis is the diesel part of that combo.

[MaDeuce]

"In Japan, their Prius cars come with optional self-parking software, to parallel-park the car without assistance."

I need one to drive me to work without assistance.

[chief_bigfoot]

It's like dejavu all over again!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1404132/posts

http://trucks.about.com/od/2006truckintrosspecs/ss/chevy_silverado_5.htm

[reg45]

Daimler-Benz originally planned to use a diesel-electric hybrid in the Mercedes R series cars. Considering all their experience in building diesel-electric hybrid u-boat power plants during WW2, that would have been a great combination.

[backhoe]

"You can't run a car on coal"

---

Well, actually, you can, and it was done during fuel shortages in WWII:

http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/producer/index.html
Producer Gas for Motor Vehicles
by John D and Martin G Cash
reprinted by Lindsay Publications

It does appear to be a lot of trouble and hardware for the results, however.

The best suggestion in the book is to mount everything on a trailer and drag it along, so you can disconnect it when switching back to gasoline.

[SVTCobra03]

For those of us who dont care to drive clown cars there is good news. The most recent issue of Motor Trend reports that the 2007 Camaro will be out this year and they anticipate the top end model will have the 505hp LS7 motor. Zoom-Zoom.